I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 

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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, j 



ur Little Ones 



IN 

PARADISE. 

COMPILED BY , 

REV. SAMUEL CUTLER, 

AUTHOR OF ll THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME, 1 ' " THE WORK OF THE 
SPIRIT," ETC. 



"They only can be said to possess a child for ever, 
who have lost one in infancy." 

X 



y^ 



American Tract Society, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 




NOT LOST! 



Gone, but not lost, 
A treasure but removed, 
A bright bird parted for a clearer day; 
Mine still in heaven. 

MRS. HEMANS. 



COPYRIGHT, 1877, BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



Preface. 



God is daily and hourly calling some of our 
little ones home to glory ; and if, in the sad lone- 
liness of such bereavement the soul can be 
brought nearer to Him by Scriptural views of 
the Saviour's manifestations of love for chil- 
dren, and of their safety from all sin and danger 
in His heavenly kingdom, the pain of separation 
may prove most beneficent in its results. 

In examining the books which have been pub- 
lished on this subject, there seemed to the com- 
piler of this little volume room for one less doc- 
trinal, more practically hopeful, comforting, and 
varied, than those which formerly found a circu- 
lation more or less extended. Hence it has 
been his purpose to avoid the discussion or in- 
culcation of any doctrine in which Christians 
of different names are not generally in unity. 



4 PREFACE. 

As a handbook for the bereaved, it is sent 
forth with earnest prayer to "the God of all 
comfort " that his blessing may attend its circu- 
lation, so that many a mourning parent may be 
led rejoicingly to say, "I bless God for a child 
in glory !" " I shall go to him. !" 

The selections from Whittier are by permis- 
sion of his publishers, Messrs. Osgood & Co., 
Boston. s. c. 

BOSTON, MASS. 



CONTENTS. 



God's Hidden Purposes. S. C. page 9 

Wholly Resigned - 12 

The Quiet, Hoping Heart. Sam. Rodigast, 1675--- *3 

Patient Trust - 14 

Thy Will be Done 15 

The Mortality of Infants. S. C. 16 

Transplanted. R.B.Sheridan - 22 

Behold He Sleepeth. Caroline E. Roberts 23 

The Reaper and the Flowers. Longfellow 24 

Weep Not for the Dead. Mary E. Brooks -- 25 

Early Called. Coleridge-- - 26 

"Of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven." S. C. 27 

Little Ones Going Home - - — 34 

The Key. Jean Paul 35 

" Of Such is the Kingdom." Mrs. M. S. B. Dana -- 36 

A True Story. Rev. J. W. Chadwick •■ yj 

Death's Whisper. Coleridge 38 ; 

Epitaph 3S 

"I Shall Go to Him." S. C. ---- ----- 39 

For ever Safe. Wm. Cutter 46 

Farewell, my Child. Hoffmann 47 



6 COXTENTS. 

"Thy Children Shall Come Again." S. C. 49 

The Shepherd and the Lamb 53 

Death of an Infant. Mrs. SiGOURNEY 54 

The Alpine Shepherd 54 

Safe Home - 55 

The Best for the Baby 55 

Are They not Ministering Spirits? S. C. 56 

A Ministering Angel. Emily Judson 59 

Redeemed and Glorified Children - - 60 

The Singing of Children — 61 

The Angel's Call -- 62 

Communing in Heaven 63 

Celestial Harmonies - 63 

Recognition in Heaven. S. C. 64 

Waiting for You. T. P. M. 68 

Trust and Hope 69 

The Meeting. R. Southey -- 69 

The Dying Boy. J. H. Bright 70 

Within the Fold • 70 

Children in the Resurrection. Rev. W. H. Lewis, D. D. 71 

The Worm and Chrysalis. Mrs. Gilman 73 

The New Jerusalem 75 

Resurrection. Thomson's Seasons- 75 

Reunion. Shakespeare 75 

Children with Jesus. Rev. W. B. Clark 76 

The Cherub Band 77 

Children in Glory 7S 

The Shepherd and the Lambs. Dr. L. J. Halsey 80 

The Good Shepherd. Maria W. Lowell 81 



CONTENTS. 7 

The Better Land. John G. Whittier 84 

Only. K. Garnet -- 85 

Look Upward 86 

Letter from Bishop Leighton 87 

The Eternal Gain. Dr. Huie 88 

The Happy Exchange. Mrs. Embury 89 

Among the Graves. John G. Whittier 90 

The Cheerful Giver. Mrs. Sigourney 91 

The Heavenly Garden. Rev. Dr. Guthrie 92 

Triumphs of the Cross, Dr. L. J. Halsey 93 

God's Love 94 

The Resurrection Morn 94 

Christ's Sinless School. Dr. T. L. Cuyler — 95 

A Flower Removed. Cunningham 95 

Death. Bishop Hall - 96 

The Saviour's Love for Children. Rev. C. H. A. Bulkley 97 

The Angel and the Infant. From the German 99 

Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me ! Dr. Bethune 101 

Resignation. C. F. Gellert 102 



OUR LITTLE ONES 



IN 



PARADISE. 



GOD'S HIDDEN PURPOSES. 

• 

Why has God thus dealt with me? is often 
the sad inquiry of the parental heart when a 
darling child is removed by death. 

At such an hour there is sometimes, even in 
the mind of the Christian, a feeling of distrust 
whether all things are wisely ordered, and a dis- 
position to murmur at what he calls the dark 
and mysterious providence which has brought 
desolation to his fireside. There is a struggle 
between distrust and faith. In the day of calam- 
ity the spirit is overwhelmed, the soul refuses 



IO OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

to be comforted, and in deep depression, with 
the Psalmist, the mourner asks, " Hath God for- 
gotten to be gracious ? Hath he in anger shut 
up his tender mercies ?" So Satan tempts us 
in seasons of affliction, in our hour of bereave- 
ment. Sharp is the conflict when God removes 
our idols. Painful is the struggle if our will is 
not brought into sweet conformity to God's 
will. Such was the experience of the Psalmist, 
such has been the experience of multitudes, 
who, when the angel of death has severed the 
dearest ties or trouble in any of its varied forms 
has brought desolation to~the family, have turned 
away from God as the only source of consola- 
tion, and in their sorrow forgotten his tender 
mercies and loving-kindnesses in all the way by 
which he has led them. • 

Why hast thou thus dealt with me ? is a 
question which, in view of the fact the ways or 
plans of God are hidden from us, is one which 
cannot be fully answered now. And yet, though 
clouds and darkness hide his throne — though 
his path is in the mighty waters, and his foot- 
steps are unknown, by the eye of faith we may 



GOD'S HIDDEN PURPOSES, IT 

learn enough from revelation and from history, 
from his dealings with Israel as his covenant 
people, and with the nations and people who 
cast him off, to know that he doth not willingly 
nor unnecessarily afflict or grieve the children 
of men; and that all his plans are designed, 
and will ultimately be seen to promote his own 
glory as a righteous and loving God, and the 
highest good of his people. We shall see, as 
we cannot now, why he chastens those he loves, 
and how death is made the minister of life. 

Death has ever been the terror as it is the 
conqueror of the natural man. Come when and 
where it may, though in its least revolting 
aspect, to take back to God the spirit of uncon- 
scious infancy, or of opening childhood, parental 
and filial sympathies shrink from fellowship with 
the dreaded messenger. Even in the hope 
which nature dictates, and the assurance which 
revelation brings to us that God removes the 
bud or the blossom, to unfold, and to bring 
forth fruit in a better clime — that the infant 
mind will go on progressively in its redeemed 
likeness to its Saviour — still, in the hour of 



12 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

trial, faith is weak, sense prevails, and the plain- 
tive, sometimes the agonizing cry goes forth, 
"O my Father, why hast thou thus dealt with 
me ?" 

If this little book shall be so blessed of God 
as to lead some among the tens of thousands of 
weeping fathers and mothers, of brothers and 
sisters, to look beyond the grave and to realize 
that the babe or the little child still lives, that 
the loving Saviour has taken it in his arms, 
carries it in his bosom, provides for all its wants 
as no earthly friend could do, that it is for ever 
safe from all danger, and from "the second 
death ;" and that in its removal God is calling 
them to be ready to meet their children in 
glory; with thankfulness will the compiler give 
praise to Him for the conception and execution 
of the design. s. c. 



WHOLLY RESIGNED. 

Christ leads us through no darker rooms 
That he went through before : 

He that into God's kingdom comes 
Must enter by this door. 



GOD'S HIDDEN PURPOSES. 13 

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet 

Thy blessed face to see ; 
For if thy word on earth be sweet, 

What will thy glory be ! 

Then shall I end my sad complaints 

And weary, sinful days, 
And join with the triumphant saints 

That sing Jehovah's praise. 
My knowledge of that life is small, 

The eye of faith is dim, 
But 't is enough that Christ knows all, 

And I shall be with him. 



THE QUIET, HOPING HEART. 

Whate'er my God ordains is right, 

His will is ever just ; * 
Howe'er he order now my cause, 
I will be stiil and trust. 
He is my God; 
Though dark my road, 
He holds me that I shall not fall, 
Wherefore to him I leave it all> 

Whate'er my God ordains is right, 
Though I the cup must drink, 

That bitter seems to my faint heart, 
I will not fear nor shrink ; 



14 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

Fears pass away 

With dawn of day, 
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart, 
And pain and sorrow shall depart. 

Whate'er my God ordains is right : 

My Light, my Life is he, 
Who cannot will me aught but good ; 
I trust him utterly ; 
For well I know, 
In joy or woe, 
We soon shall see as sunlight clear 
How faithful was our Guardian here. 

Whate'er my God ordains is right : 

Here will I take my stand; 
Though sorrow, need, or death make earth 
For me a desert land, 
My Father's care 
Is round me there; 
He holds me that I shall not fall, 
And so to him I leave it all. 

Samuel Rodigast, 1675. 

fy 

PATIENT TRUST. 

Let us be patient, God has taken from us 
The earthly treasures upon which we leaned, 

That from the fleeting things which lie around us 
Our clinging hearts should be for ever weaned. 



GOD'S HIDDEN PURPOSES. 15 

Let us be thankful, if in this affliction 
No grave is opened for the loving heart ; 

And while we bend beneath our Father's eludings, 
We yet can mourn " each family apart." 

These earthly walls must shortly be dismantled, 
These earthly tents be struck by angel hands ; 

But to be built up on a sure foundation, 

There, where our Father's mansion ever stands. 

There shall we meet, parent and child, and dearer 
That earthly love which makes half heaven of home ; 

There shall we find our treasures all awaiting, 

Where change and death and parting never come. 



THY WILL BE DONE, 
To do, or not to do — to have 

Or not to have — I leave to Thee ; 
To be, or not to be, I leave — 

Thy only will be done to me. 
All my requests are lost in one : 
Father, thy only will be done ! 

Suffice that for the season past 
Myself in things divine I sought, 

For comforts cried with eager haste, 
And murmured when I found them not : 

I leave it now to Thee alone ; 

Father, thy only will be done ! 



16 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE, 



THE MORTALITY OF INFANTS. 



We have spoken of God's hidden purposes in 
the death of children. To reason, unenlighten- 
ed, and unsanctified, the Divine goodness may 
sometimes be questioned in the removal by 
death, in infancy and childhood, of so large a 
proportion of all' who are born into our world. 

It appears, from the vital statistics of civilized 
nations, that of the whole number born in Chris- 
tendom, nearly one-quarter die under the age of 
one year, about two-fifths under five years, and 
nearly one-half of all the deaths are under ten 
years. In cities, the average of deaths is larger 
than in the rural districts. Among the vicious 
poor, tenement-house corruption hastens physi- 
cal, as well as moral death. Among semi-civil- 
ized and heathen nations, and barbarous tribes, 
where little children are sacrificed to appease 
the wrath of imaginary cruel gods, or perish 



THE MORTALITY OF INFANTS. vj 

through neglect, the cleath-rate is no doubt 
greater. The deaths in Boston, in 1874, of in- 
fants under one year, were over twenty-eight 
per cent, of all who died. In the same city, for 
the ten years ending with the year 1874, the 
average percentage of those dying under one 
year was twenty-five and one-half per cent. ; 
and of all dying under five years, during the 
same period, forty-two and one-eighth per cent. 
That is, more than one-quarter of all the deaths 
in Boston, for a period of ten consecutive years, 
were of infants under one year, and more than 
two-fifths were under five years. In 1875 the 
whole number of deaths in Boston was eight 
thousand nine hundred fifty-eight; of these 
twenty-two hundred sixty-three were under one 
year, seventeen hundred and nine between one 
and five years, and four hundred and sixty-eight 
between five and ten years: or a total of four 
thousand four hundred and forty; showing al- 
most fifty per cent, of all who died, not to have 
reached the first decade of years. 

We give these statistics, carefully gathered, 
for a practical purpose. Boston is not an un- 

Our Little Ones. 3 



iS OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

healthy city. Its death-rate is indeed a small 
percentage larger than the average of our Amer- 
ican cities ; but from our figures we have a 
basis on which to rest our argument for the 
love of God to the race, in leading so many, 
through tribulation, to his heavenly home. 
Leading, first, the great multitude of little ones, 
which no man can number — half our race — to 
educate them for a better existence than is pos- 
sible where sin abounds ; and then, by his grace, 
leading many parents bereaved, with longing 
desires for a reunion with their children, to fol- 
low after. 

For in the faith that God has provided in the 
atonement made by Jesus Christ for the sins of 
the whole world, for the salvation of infants, we 
discern wonderful evidence of his wisdom and 
his love in the early removal from a state of 
trial in a world of darkness, to a sinless exist- 
ence in paths of light, so many, who, were they 
left to encounter the temptations of the world, 
the flesh, and the devil, might fall so far from 
God as never to rise again. But God has lov- 
ingly taken them from these dangers. He has 



THE MORTALITY OF INFANTS. 19 

placed them, as we believe, under holy influ- 
ences. More literally, and in a higher and more 
spiritual sense than the human mind has appre- 
hended, it may be true that the good Shepherd 
has taken the lambs in his arms, and that they 
are saved for ever. But suppose these myriads 
of ransomed ones had been left to all the sor- 
rows, and to be tried by all the temptations ex- 
perienced by those who live to fight in manhood 
life's battles, how many of them would be found 
among the saved ? Every one of them would 
have needed to be reclaimed from a course of 
transgression, as well as renewed unto holiness. 
But in the light of experience, would they have 
consecrated themselves to God and to his ser- 
vice, or would the world in some of its multiform 
temptations have had dominion over them ? Oh, 
how many parents have suffered severer pangs 
in the misconduct and vices of children, than 
they could have suffered in their early death ! 
Time and again in the sad experience even of 
Christian parents, has the mournful wail of Da- 
vid been in substance reiterated, " Would God I 
had died for thee; oh, my son, my son !" And 



20 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

so, even in the records of time, the wisdom and 
love of God to our fallen race is seen in the 
early removal from temptation of so many who 
have not been left to endure its dangers. Let 
this comforting thought call forth from the 
depths of a sorrowing heart the joyful accompa- 
niment, "It is well with the. child!" And in 
view of the many who daily mourn the death of 
little children, let it, in the hour of desolation, 
be remembered by the mother who refuses to be 
comforted, that she is but one among the thou- 
sands w T ho are called to weep for one as lovely, 
and as dear to each of them, as was her babe to 

her. 

" The air is full of farewells to the dying, 
And mournings for the dead ; 
The heart of Rachel, for her children crying, 
Will not be comforted." 

But the broken ties shall be reunited! The 
promise is sure to the believing parent, " Thy 
children shall come again from the land of the 
enemy !" 

But the death of children is also designed for 
the salvation of parents, God would have us 



THE MORTALITY OF INFANTS. 2t 

seek supremely his kingdom, and lay up our 
treasure there. Now, what is there so valuable 
to parents as their offspring ? What so dear to 
the mother as her helpless infant, or her lisping 
child ? What so precious to the father as the 
children God has given him ? But if these chil- 
dren have their home on earth, the parental de- 
sires may not rise higher than earth. Where 
the treasure is the heart is. But if the treasure 
is removed to heaven, there must be strong re- 
sistance if the affections are not drawn thither. 

And how often has experience shown that the 
death of children has been the means of awa- 
kening thought in the minds of parents about a 
better world. The desire of reunion with a dar- 
ling child has sometimes, by God's blessing, 
awakened the impenitent from the sleep of spir- 
itual death, and roused the believer to renewed 
effort in the divine life. The parent believes 
that the child is removed from a state of suffer- 
ing and of sin ; and in thought, if not in vocal 
utterance, the desire goes forth, " Oh that, when 
God shall call, I may be prepared to go where 
my child has gone !" Thus God has purposes 



22 OUR LITTLE OXES IN PARADISE. 

of mercy in all his ways. Although his plans 
are hidden, and when the waves and billows of 
affliction toss and roar we cannot trace his foot- 
steps, yet in the light of revelation and of expe- 
rience we may be sure that if in the day of 
trouble w T e seek the Lord, calling upon him 
trustingly and with all the heart, he will turn 
our mourning into joy. 

But let none forget that the reunion of parent 
and child in glory depends upon the likeness of 
both the parent and the child to Christ. Though 
the infant had not personally transgressed, it 
needed redemption. We who are parents know 
that w r e are sinners ; and that only through faith 
in Him who saved them, and who says to us, 
u Except ye be converted and become as little 
children ye cannot enter into the kingdom of 
heaven," we may be changed and fitted for the 
purity of the Divine presence. s. c. 



TRANSPLANTED. 
In some rude spot where vulgar herbage grows, 

If chance a violet rear its purple head, 
The careful gardener moves it ere it blows, 

To thrive and flourish in a nobler bed; 



THE MORTALITY GF INFANTS. i 

Such was thy fate, dear child, thy opening such ! 

Preeminence in early bloom was shown ; 
For earth too good, perhaps, and loved too much, 

Heaven saw, and early marked thee for its own. 

R. B. Sheridan. 



"BEHOLD, HE SLEEFETH." 

I entered in a darkened room, 

The chamber of the dead ; 
Behold a child most sweetly fair, 
In a little shroud of white lay there, 
Holy and calm his features were, 

Though light and life had fled : 
And tearful eyes did vigil keep. 
No more he ? 11 wake, no more he 'il weep- 
Sweetly asleep — sweetly asleep. 

I entered in the graveyard lone, 

With sad and solemn tread ; 
They laid that lovely child to rest, 
Calmly within the earth's cold breast : 
And mourners hushed their waiting, lest 

They wake the silent dead ; 
Down in the grave, silent and deep, 
No more to sorrow or to weep — 
Sweetly asleep — sweetly asleep. 

Methought I entered in the fold 
Of heavenly peace and joy ; 



24 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

And lo ! beside " still waters," I 
A lovely spirit did descry, 
Slumbering most calmly, quietly. 

That spirit was your boy ! 
And seraphs' eyes bright vigil keep. 
No more he '11 sorrow, no more weep — 
Sweetly asleep — sweetly asleep. 

By faith I entered in the fold 

Which the great Shepherd tendeth ; 
Lo ! in His arms a lamb most fair 
Safely the Shepherd guardeth there; 
A " little one" with watchful care 

He loveth and defendeth. 
Then for your lost one do not weep, 
Your little lamb the Lord will keep, 
Sweetly asleep — sweetly asleep. 

Caroline E. Roberts. 



THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS. 

There is a reaper whose name is Death, 

And with his sickle keen 
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, 

And the flowers that grow between. 

" Shall I have naught that is fair ?" said he, 
' s Have naught but the bearded grain ? 

Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, 
I will give them all back aGfain." 



THE MORTALITY OF INFANTS. 

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes ; 

He kissed their drooping leaves ; 
It was for the Lord of paradise 

He bound them in his sheaves. 

" My Lord hath need of these flowerets gay," 

The reaper said, and smiled ; 
"Dear tokens of the earth are they, 

Where he was once a child. 

" They shall all bloom in fields of light, 

Transplanted by my care. 
And saints upon their garments white 

These sacred blossoms wear." 

And the mother gave in tears and pain 

The flowers she most did love ; 
She knew she should find them all again 

In the fields of light above. 

Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, 

The reaper came that day ; 
'Twas an angel visited the green earth, 

And took the flowers away ! Longfellow. 



WEEP NOT FOR THE DEAD. 

Oh, weep not for the dead ! 
Rather, oh, rather, give the tear 
To those that darkly linger here, 

When all besides are fled. 

Our Little Ones. 4- 



26 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

Weep for the spirit withering 
In its cold cheerless sorrowing, 
Weep for the young and lovely one 
That ruin darkly revels on ; 

But never be a teardrop shed 
For them, the pure enfranchised dead. 

Oh, weep not for the dead ! 
No more for them the blighting chill, 
The thousand shades of earthly ill, 

The thousand thorns we tread ; 
Weep for the life-charm early flown, 
The spirit broken, bleeding, lone ; 
Weep for the death-pangs of the heart 
Ere being from the bosom part ; 

But never be a tear-drop given 

To those that rest in yon blue heaven. 

Mary E. Erooks. 

4 

EARLY CALLED. 

Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade, 
Death came with friendly care, 

The opening bud to heaven conveyed, 
And bade it blossom there. Coleridge. 



OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN. 27 



" OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF 
HE A VEN? 



Little children were brought to Jesus, du- 
ring his earthly ministry, by some who had 
faith -in the efficacy of his blessing, and who 
desired that these little ones should be partakers 
of it. But his disciples reproved those who 
brought them. For some reason, they did not 
think it proper for these parents or friends to 
trouble the Master to perform the ceremony 
common among the Jews, of laying hands upon 
the child, or the person for whom a blessing 
was. sought. Mark (10:14) says, that in view 
of the conduct of his disciples, " Jesus was much 
displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not: 
for of such is the kingdom of God." Luke, 
(18:15, 17,) in relating the transaction, adds, 
with Mark, " Verily I say unto you, Whosoever 



28 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little 
child, shall in nowise enter therein. And then, 
Matthew says, "He laid his hands on them." 
Mark says, "He took them up in his arms, put 
his hands upon them, and blessed them." 

But in what sense may this coming of infants 
to Jesus be interpreted ? In what respect is 
" the kingdom of heaven," or " the kingdom of 
God," fitted for them, or they for it? These 
terms have the same meaning. "Kingdom of 
heaven" is used by Matthew, not by Mark and 
Luke. And Matthew himself uses the two 
phrases indiscriminately when he says, "Verily, 
I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly 
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again 
I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go 
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
man to enter into the kingdom of God." Matt. 
19:23,24. There are three principal applica- 
tions given to the words in the New Testament : 
first, to the church visible ; second, to the 
church invisible, or Spiritual ; third, to the 
church in glory. 

The visible Christian church in its begins 



OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN. 29 

nings may be dated from the day of Pentecost. 
Jesus, entering upon his ministry, began to 
preach and to say, " Repent, for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand." Matt. 4:17. And when 
he sent the twelve "to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel," his commission to them was, 
" Preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." Matt. 10:7. 

This visible Christian church is composed of 
those who professing to believe in Jesus Christ 
as their Saviour and Lord, have by water, as 
the sign of the new life, been baptized "in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." Matt. 28 : 19. 

But the church is compared by our Saviour 
to a field of wheat and tares. Matt. 13:24-30. 
And to a fisherman's net, gathering of every 
kind, bad and good. Matt. 13 : 47. It is not a 
winnowed society. Many enter it who do not 
give good evidence, by holy lives, of true con- 
version from the guilt and power of sin. When 
therefore our Saviour in blessing the children, 
said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven," he 
meant something higher than the visible church, 



30 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

If we look at the second meaning of "king- 
dom of heaven," as referring to grace in the 
heart, or to those who are members of Christ's 
mystical body, which is his true church — and 
which by our Saviour is compared to hidden 
treasure, and to a pearl of great price, earnestly 
sought, and when found, filling the soul with 
joy, (Matt. 13 : 44-46,) we do not perceive the 
applicability of the term to infants. They are 
not capable of seeking, or of prizing the bless- 
ings of salvation. Nor is this capability neces- 
sary on their part, if God has otherwise pro- 
vided, as we doubt not he has, that dying 
in infancy they will be saved. " When God de- 
termines the salvation of a soul, he also deter- 
mines the means of its preparation for heaven ; 
and we know nothing of his particular purposes 
but by their results in personal character. The 
dying infant has the character to which heaven 
is promised."* 

We come then, thus briefly, to the conviction 
that the phrase " kingdom of heaven," as applied 
to infants, means, that in the future life they 
* Dr. G. W. Eethune. 



OF SUCH IS THE KINGD OM OF HE A VEA T . 3 1 

will constitute a large proportion of the saved ; 
implying that " not one of these little ones will 
perish/' Matt. 18:14; that there is a sense in 
which, literally, the little child may be greatest 
in Christ's glorious and eternal kingdom ; teach- 
ing not only that adults must cultivate the char- 
acter of little children, in humility and love and 
unselfish obedience, in order to enter Christ's 
kingdom of glory, (1 Cor. 6:9,) but also that if 
little children are a type of what Christians ought 
to be, then surely they will not fail of salvation. 

Jesus has gone to receive this kingdom. Luke 
19:12. " There are many mansions in our 
Heavenly Father's house, and ample and de- 
lightful accommodations are provided for the 
countless hosts of little children who will be 
gathered there."* 

The Rev. John Newton says, " I think it at 
least highly probable, that where our Lord says, 
' Suffer little children to come unto me, and for- 
bid them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven,' He does not only intimate the neces- 
sity of our becoming like little children in sim- 
* Dr. A. Alexander. 



32 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

plicity, as a qualification without which, as he 
expressly declares in other places, we cannot 
enter into his kingdom, but informs us of a fact, 
that the- number of infants who are effectually 
redeemed unto God by his blood so greatly 
exceeds the aggregate of adult believers, that, 
comparatively speaking, his kingdom may be 
said to consist of little children." 

Dr. Scott, in unison with Dr. Newton, says in 
his commentary, that "the expression may inti- 
mate that the kingdom of heavenly glciy is 
greatly constituted of such as die in their in- 
fancy/' " The expression," says Dr. Russell, 
who has treated this subject with great ability, 
"means that of such it is in a great measure 
made up, because they will form a very great 
proportion of the redeemed family of heaven." It 
is the comment of Calvin, " When 'Christ says, 
• Suffer little children to come unto me/ nothing 
can be plainer than that he intends those who 
are in a state of real infancy. And to prevent 
this from being thought unreasonable he adds, 
' Of such is the kingdom of heaven/ "* 

* See "Infants in Heaven," Dr. J. M. McDonald. 



OF SUCH IS THE KINGD OM OF HE A VEN. 33 

In this aspect how comforting to the bereaved 
Christian parent is the assuring hope of a re- 
union where there is no more death. Oh, blessed 
promise of our risen and ascended Lord, " Be- 
cause I live, ye shall live also." John 14:19. 
Oh ! wonderful prayer, "Father, I will that they 
whom thou hast given me be with me where I 
am, that they may behold my glory which thou 
hast given me." John 17 : 24. And can we be- 
lieve that the life of Jesus and the prayer of 
Jesus will be less efficacious for the unsinning 
infant than for the sinning parent ? Can we 
doubt that Paradise is as well fitted for the 
spiritual education of the little child, as of the 
believing thief ? Is it not the doorway or 
vestibule to the greater glories of a perfected 
redemption, of both small and great, in " the 
resurrection of the just," Luke 14: 14, "the resur- 
rection of life," John 5 : 29, at our Lord's second 
coming ? 

Dry then your tears, ye parents, from whom 
God has taken your infant children. It is not 
the will of your Father that one of them should 
perish. Matt. 18 : 14. They are not lost for ever ! 

Out Little Ones. C 



34 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE'. 

They die to live ! Are you so living as to meet 
them in the better land ? s. c. 



LITTLE ONES GOING HOME. 

u Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such 
is the kingdom of heaven." 

They are going — only going — 

Jesus called them long ago ; 
All the wintry time they 're passing 

Softly as the falling snow. 
When the violets in the spring-time 

Catch the azure of the sky, 
They are carried out to slumber 

Sweetly where the violets lie. 

They are going — only going — 

When with summer earth is dressed, 
In their cold hands holding roses 

Folded to each silent breast ; 
When the autumn hangs red banners 

Out above the harvest sheaves, 
They are going — ever going — 

Thick and fast, like falling leaves. 

All along the mighty ages, 

All adown the solemn time, 
They have taken up their homeward 

March to that serener clime, 



OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN. 

Where the watching, waiting angels 
Lead them from the shadow dim, 

To the brightness of His presence 
Who has called them unto Him. 

They are going — only going — 

Out of pain and into bliss, 
Out of sad and sinful weakness 

Into perfect holiness. 
Snowy brows ! no care shall shade them; 

Bright eyes ! tears shall never dim ■ 
Rosy lips ! no time shall fade them; 

Jesus called them unto him. 

Hearts to be for ever stainless — 

Hands to be as pure as they, 
Little feet by angels guided 

Never in forbidden way ; 
They are going — ever going ! 

Leaving many a lonely spot ; 
But 'tis Jesus who has called them: 

Suffer, and forbid them not. 



THE KEY. 

A mother knelt o'er her loved one's tomb, 
And her eyes were red with weeping, 

For her cherished flower, in its morning bloom, 
Was now in the cold earth sleeping. 



J6 . OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

The coffin's key was in her hand, 
In her heart the deepest sadness ; 

And her spirit yearned for the better land, 
Where grief would be turned to gladness. 

" I will keep the key," she calmly said, 
" Of the dwelling dark and lonely, 

So that none thy rest shall ever invade, 
But the mother who loved thee only." 

She turned her eyes to heaven's bright dome, 
Where the silent stars were beaming, 

And her spirit caught in childlike tone 
These words of holiest meaning : 

" Throw away the key, O mother dear, 
For the coffin holds not thy child ; 

He has risen from earth, and dwelleth here, 
For the Saviour upon him smiled." 

Jean PauL 

"OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM." 
I dearly love a little child, 

And Jesus loved young children too ; 
He ever sweetly on them smiled, 

And placed them with his chosen few 
When, cradled on its mother's breast, 

A babe was brought to Jesus' feet, 
He laid his hand upon its head, 

And blessed it with a promise sweet. 



OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HE A VEN. 37 

" Forbid them not !" the Saviour said, 

" Oh ! suffer them to come to me ! 
Of such my heavenly kingdom is : 

Like them may all my followers be !" 
Young children are the gems of earth, 

The brightest jewels mothers have ; 
They sparkle on the throbbing breast, 

But brighter shine beyond the grave. 

Mrs. Map,' S. B. Dana. 

* 

A TRUE STORY. 

" Greater love hath no man than this." 

From a home that had two darlings 

One was called and went away, 
Baby Ralph ; and little Willie 

Missed him sorely at his play. 
As one day he talked about him, 

Wondering much where he had gone, 
Wishing much he would not tarry, 

Brother Willie was so lone, 
Said the mother, so beguiling 

Something of her secret pain, 
" What would Willie give if only 

Baby Ralph could come again ?" 
Drooped the little head in silence, 

Thinking hard, 'twas plain to see ; 
Then he spoke out strong and tender, 

" Mamma, I would give God me." 

Rev. J. W. Chadwick. 



3S OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

DEATH'S WHISPER, 
" Be; rather than be called, a child of God," 
Death whispered. With assenting nod, 
Its head upon its mother's breast, 
The baby bowed without demur ; 
Of the kingdom of the blest 
Possessor, not inheritor. 

Coleridge. 



EPITAPH. 
Bold infidelity, turn pale and die ! 
Under this stone an infant's ashes lie ; 

Say, is it lost, or saved ? 
If death 's by sin, it sinned, for it lies here ; 
If heaven's by works, in heaven it can't appear. 

Ah, reason ! how depraved ! 
Revere the Bible's sacred page — the knot's untied, 
It died through Adam's sin— -it lives, for Jesus died. 



"I SHALL GO TO LLLAI." 39 



"/ SHALL GO TO HI Mr 



This is the utterance of a submissive heart. 
David had greatly sinned against God, and God 
had chastised him in not granting his request 
that the child whom he so dearly loved might 
live. His prolonged fastings and earnest prayers 
were unavailing. Under the searching reproof 
of Nathan, the king of Israel had said, "The 
man that hath done this shall surely die." But 
in view of his penitence God forgave his sin, 
though he commanded his prophet to proclaim 
as a punishment of his guilt, that although he 
was spared, the child should surely die. And the 
child did die. It went to a better world. 

So David thought. He did not believe that 
the child though dead was for ever lost to him. 
He submitted to God's just chastisement in 
taking away the child, but he derived great con- 
solation from the persuasion that he should meet 



40 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

him again. Hence his tranquillity and expres- 
sion of resignation to his servants : " Now he is 
dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him 
back again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not 
return to me." "The elders," says Dr. Chal- 
mers, " had quite miscalculated the influence of 
the death of the child upon the mind of the 
afflicted king ; but the real history is in perfect 
keeping with all experience of the workings of 
the. human heart. The object was no longer to 
be prayed about, and far less to be felt about 
than before. So much more tolerable is a state 
of decision, even when adverse, than a state of 
uncertainty and suspense." The words, " I shall 
go to him," are expressive of his full conviction 
of a future meeting and recognition of the child 
for whom he had prayed, and for whom he 
mourned. David believed that the purpose and 
promise of God of a future life of blessedness to 
all who trust in him, was applicable to his child 
as to himself. This belief, moreover, did not rest 
upon a mere fancy or impression, for David was 
among the holy men of God who spake as moved 
by the Holy Ghost, who was in covenant with 



"7 SHALL GO TO HIM." 41 

God, and whose words come down to us with a 
divine authority and sanction. The faith there- 
fore of David ought to comfort the mourner: 
that in the wise arrangement of Him who doeth 
all things well, the little child who is released 
from suffering has gone to a better world. 

An interesting question, which I presume not 
positively to answer, but which has doubtless 
exercised many a thoughtful mind, as it has con- 
templated the possibilities of the unseen world, 
is the physical — if I may use the term in speak- 
ing of a spirit which has left the natural body — 
and mental condition of infants in paradise. 
Are they infants there, as here? Will they be 
children in Christ's coming kingdom, as they 
were when on earth ? Will David again meet 
and embrace his child as' a child, or will that 
child have grown to manhood ? 

The question is thus presented in verse : 

"WHAT SHALL IT BE? 
" An infant's soul — the sweetest thing on earth, 
To which endowments beautiful are given, 
As might befit a more than mortal birth — 

What shall it be, when midst its vanning mirth, 

Our Little Ones. Q 



42 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

And love, and trustfulness, 't is borne to heaven ? 
Will it grow into might above the skies — 
A spirit of high wisdom, glory, power, 
A cherub guard of the eternal tower, 
With knowledge filled of its vast mysteries ? 
Or will perpetual childhood be its dower — 
To sport for ever, a bright joyous thing, 
Amid the wonders of the shining throngs, 
Yielding its praise in glad, but feeble tones, 
A tender dove beneath the Almighty's wing ?" 

There are two opinions upon this point. One 
is expressed by Longfellow in his verses on 
" Resignation/' when he says, 

" There is no flock, however watched or tended, 
But one dead lamb is there ! 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
But has one vacant chair ! 
****** 
" Not as a child shall we again behold her ; 
For when with raptures wild 
In our embraces we again enfold her, 
She will not be a child, 

" But a fair maiden in her Father's mansion, 
Clothed with celestial grace, 
And beautiful with all the soul's expansion 
Shall we behold her face." 



"I SHALL GO TO HIM." 43 

The other view, and that which seems to be 
more generally received is, that infants and chil- 
dren who are transplanted from this world of 
sin to a world of bliss, may remain children, that 
they will not lose their identity : the mother shall 
again clasp to her bosom the babe she lost, and 
families reunited shall find their home in one of 
the many mansions of our Father's house. Nor 
does this militate against the idea of mental and 
moral progress in the child. For, released from 
sin and suffering, and weakness and deformity, 
the child will be perfected in beauty and purity. 
We think the hope is warranted that " infant 
voices," in unison with the great multitude which 
none can number, 

" Shall proclaim 
Their glaa hosannas to his name," 

who redeemed them with his blood, and who 
said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

The Rev. E. H. Bickersteth in his celebrated 
poem, " Yesterday, To-day, and For ever," thus 
manifests his belief of the continuous identity of 
infants in glory : 



44 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

" A babe in glory is a babe for ever. 

Infancy- 
Is one thing, manhood one. And babes, though part 
Of the true archetypal house of God 
Built on the heavenly Zion, are not now, 
Nor will be ever, massive rocks, rough-hewn, 
Or ponderous corner-stones, or fluted shafts 
Of columns, or far-shadowing pinnacles ; 
But rather as the delicate lily-work 
By Hiram wrought for Solomon of old, 
Enwreathed upon the brazen chapiters, 
Or flowers of lilies round the molten sea. 
Innumerable flowers thus bloom and blush in heaven." 

In unison with this thought is the following 
extract from an address by Rev. Dr. Schauffler, 

"TO BEREAVED PARENTS. 

"It seems to me we need infant choirs in 
heaven to make up l full concert to the angelic 
symphony/ Who will sing like unto them, of 
the manger, and the swaddling clothes, and of 
the Lord of all drawing nourishment from the 
bosom of a mortal mother ! True, these are 
themes of infinite interest, and the delight and 
wonder of angels, But ah ! they are too tender 



"/ SHALL GO TO HIM:' 45 

for the archangel's powerful trump, too tender 
for the thundering notes of seraphim and cheru- 
bim. 

" We must have infant choirs in heaven ! And 
is it no privilege to know one of our dear ones 
among them ? .What an interest does not a 
father feel in listening to the sweet voices of 
the children in a choir, when he knows his be- 
loved child is among the happy songsters. And 
is it not incomparably more precious to know 
them among the songsters of heaven ? And oh! 
with what additional interest, with what quick- 
ened anticipations do I now look beyond the 
grave ! I think of the moment when I shall 
fold my little ones to a fathers bosom again, 
and that for ever, and tears of joy and gratitude 
flow down my cheeks involuntarily. Even now, 
while I am writing, the voices of two of my chil- 
dren — is it possible ? — yes, of my children, are 
singing praises unto Him who became a poor 
babe and a man of sorrows for them and for all 
men. Oh, let them sing then ! I can only wish 
to join them soon. ,, 

Our children with the Saviour will learn in 



46 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

one minute more of God and Christ and heaven, 
than we could ever teach them in all our lives. 
Oh ! let us leave them there, all of them, and 
become daily more ready to join the 

" Angels who stand round the throne, 
And view our Immanuel's face " 
and the 

" Saints who stand nearer than they!" 

redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and 
called close around his throne to sing the song, 
not of creation and providence only, but of re- 
deeming love and sovereign grace. s t c. 



FOR EVER SAFE. 
Wounded, bleeding parents, weeping 

O'er your earthly treasures lost, 
Think not of the body sleeping 

Cold and mouldering in the dust ! 

Think not of the ties thus sundered, 

Never more to reunite — 
Of your household casket plundered 

Of a gem so pure and bright ! 

Rather let your chastened spirits, 
Bowed to Heaven's supreme behest, 

Think of her who now inherits 
Perfect, pure, eternal rest. 



"I SHALL GO TO JIIMT 47 

Think — the privilege of sending 

Spirits to that world so fair ; 
Then, in glad submission bending, 

Bless Him that your lost one 's there. 

Lost ? oh, no ! but found for ever, 

Never to be lost again, 
Rescued by peculiar favor 

From a world of sin and pain ! 

Raised to seats of heavenly glory, 

Equal to the angel throng, 
Hear her tell redemption's story 

In her rapturous, endless song. 

Cease, then, cease your sad complaining, 

Let your inmost soul submit ; 
Soon with her may you be reigning, 

Crowned and throned at T esus' feet. 

William Cutter. 



FAREWELL, MY CHILD. 

Farewell, my child ! the Lord thy spirit calls 

To leave a world of woe : 
Sad on my heart the heavenly summons falls, 

Yet since He wills it so, 
I calm the rising agitation, 
And say, with humble resignation, 

Farewell, my child ! 



48 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

Farewell, my child ! lent for a little while 

Our drooping hearts to cheer; 
Dear is thy loving voice, thy gentle smile, 

Ah ! who can tell how dear ? 
The sands are run, too quickly falling : 
The Giver comes, his own recalling : 

Farewell, my child ! 
Farewell, my child ! enjoy in heaven's pure day 

What earth must still deny ; 
Here many a storm awaits thy longer way, 

And many a tear thine eye. 
Go, where the flowers have never faded, 
Where love may smile unchilled, unshaded : 
Farewell, my child ! 
Farewell, my child ! soon shall we meet again 

In the good land of rest : 
Thou goest, happy one ! ere grief or pain 

Have reached thy gentle breast. 
Happy, our thorny path forsaking, 
From life's vain dream so early waking : 

Farewell, my child ! 
Farewell, my child ! angels are bending down 

To set thy spirit free ; 
The Saviour holds in heaven the golden crown 

He won on earth for thee. 
Yea, now in Him thou art victorious : 

Go, share his rest and triumph glorious. 
Farewell, my child ! 

Hoffman. 



'THY CHILDREN SHALL COME AGAIN." 49 



THY CHILDREN SHALL COME 
AGAIN? 



This language need not be limited to the 
past. It is a promise applicable to us and to 
our children, as well as to God's ancient cove- 
nant people. The things written by the proph- 
ets of old were written for our learning, that we, 
believing God's promises, might have hope. 

By referring to the promise of Jeremiah, "Thy 
children shall come again," it will be seen that 
events pertaining to Christ's kingdom are evi- 
dently shadowed forth in the restoration of Is- 
rael. Whether we interpret the language liter- 
ally or spiritually, there is yet to be a great 
gathering of the saved, who shall " sing in the 
height of Zion," and "the people of God shall 
be satisfied with his goodness.'' 

The prophecy in which is found the promise, 
" Thy children shall come again," and which I 



Our Little Ones. 



jjo OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

have often used at the burial of children as ap- 
propriate and consolatory, is as follows : 

v Thus saith the Lord ; A voice was heard in 
Ram ah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Ra- 
chel weeping for her children refused to be 
comforted for her children, because they were 
not. Thus saith the Lord ; Refrain thy voice 
from weeping, and thine eyes from tears : for 
thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord ; and 
they shall come again from the land of the ene- 
my. And there is hope in thine end, saith the 
Lord, that thy children shall come again to their 
own border." Jer. 31 : 15-17. 

We are told by Matthew that this prophecy 
was partially fulfilled in the slaughter of the 
children under two years old in Bethlehem and 
its neighborhood, when Herod, angry and dis- 
appointed that the infant Saviour had escaped 
the death he planned, cruelly resolved that they 
should die. Matt. 2 : 16-18. 

What was the import of this prophecy and 
promise to those heart-broken mothers ? As 
the descendants of Rachel through the tribes of 
Joseph and Benjamin, she, in them, is repre- 



"THY CHILDREN SHALL COME AGAIN:' 51 

sented as weeping over her murdered offspring. 
But their sorrow, however deep, was not hope- 
less. For although refusing comfort, in view of 
the horrible cruelty which had made them child- 
less, there was, in the very cause of their grief — 
as though their babes had died for Christ, early 
martyrs for his kingdom — an assurance, in some 
way not perhaps clearly discernible to them, of 
a blessed reunion in the life beyond. For they 
had the testimony of God, " Thy work shall be 
rewarded." " Thy children," slain by Herod's 
executioners, " shall come again from the land 
of the enemy." In view of all God's promises 
to Israel, and the additional light of a thousand 
years since David said at the death of his child, 
" I shall go to him," some of these Bethlehem 
mothers were no doubt comforted with the hope 
of again clasping their babes, never more to be 
separated. If indeed they belonged to the spir- 
itual Israel, they believed in the resurrection 
from the dead, and that God's promises to them 
belonged also to their little children through 
faith. And on this basis would there not be 
deep meaning to them in the promise, "Thy 



52 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

children shall come again from the land of the 
enemy " — death ! " They shall come again," in 
the resurrection, "to their own border" — the 
promised land ? 

If these Judean mothers, in the twilight of 
the Christian dispensation, could apply the 
prophecy and the promise to themselves, may 
not Christian parents, under the clearer light of 
the Saviour's mission, of his teachings, his ex- 
ample, his death and resurrection, his ascension 
into heaven, and the promise of his second com- 
ing in glory to gather his elect, also find great 
consolation in the assured hope of the safety of 
their babes ? Have they not gone to be with 
Jesus ? Did he not, when on earth, as he took 
them in his arms and blessed them, say, " Of 
such is the kingdom of heaven" ? Mourning 
mother, if you are trusting in Jesus as your 
Saviour, and are living in obedience to his laws, 
your child shall come again to you ! You will 
go where he has gone, to be with Jesus ! But 
it is not for us to know the glories of that meet- 
ing. Enough to know we must be like little 
children in humility and obedience and love, 



"THY CHILDREN SHALL COME AGAIN: 1 S3 

that we with them may sing together, and sing 
for ever, the enrapturing song, " Unto him that 
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his 
own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
unto God and his Father ; to him be glory and 
dominion for ever and ever. Amen." s. c. 



THl shepherd and the lams. 

"There is hope that thy children shall come again." Jer. 31:17* 

Tender Shepherd, thou hast stilled 

Now thy little lamb's brief weeping ; 
Ah, how peaceful, pale, and mild, 
In its narrow bed 'tis sleeping, 
And no sigh of anguish sore 
Heaves that little bosom more. 
In this world of care and pain, 

Lord, thou wouldst no longer leave it ; 
To the sunny, heavenly plain 

Thou dost now with joy receive it ; 
Clothed in robes of spotless white, 
Now it dwells with thee in light. 
Ah, Lord Jesus, grant that we 

Where it lives may soon be living, 
And the lovely pastures see 

That its heavenly food are giving ; 
Then the gain of death we prove, 
Though thou take what most we love. 



54 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

DEATH OF AN INFANT. 

" Death found strange beauty on that cherub brow, 
And dashed it out." 

There was a tint of rose 
On cheek and lip ; he touched the veins with ice, 
And the rose faded. 

Forth from those blue eyes 
There spake a wishful tenderness, a doubt 
Whether to grieve or sleep, which innocence 
Alone may wear. With ruthless haste he bound 
The silken fringes of those curtaining lids 
For ever. 

There had been a murmuring sound, 
With which the babe would chain its mother's ear, 
Charming her even to tears. The spoiler set 
His seal of silence. 

But there beamed a smile 
So fixed, so holy, from that marble brow, 
Death gazed— and left it there He dared not steal 
The signefa'ing of heaven. 

Mrs. Sigourney. 



THE ALPINE SHEPHERD. 

A shepherd long had sought in vain 
To call a wandering sheep ; 

He strove to make her pathway plain 
Through dangers thick and deep. 



'THY CHILDREN SHALL COME AGAIN:' 

But still the wanderer stood aloof, 

And still refused to come ; 
Nor would she ever hear reproof, 

Or turn to seek her home. 

At last the gentle shepherd took 

Her little lamb from view, 
The mother turned with anguished look, 

She turned and followed too. 



SAFE HOME. 

The lamb is in the fold, 

In perfect safety penned ; 
The lion once had hold, 
And thought to make an end ; 
But One came by with wounded side, 
And for the lamb the Shepherd died. 



THE BEST FOR THE BABY. 

Well done of God, to halve the lot, 

And give him all the sweetness : 
For me the empty room and cot, 

For him the heaven's completeness, s. n. g* 



56 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 



"ARE THEY NOT MINISTERING 
SPIRITS 7" 



The apostle is speaking of angels. But the 
term ministering spirits may apply to other than 
angelic messengers. We understand that a min- 
istering spirit for good is one sent of God to aid 
and bless the person ministered unto. And 
many a mother mourning the removal of her 
child by death, loves to think of it, though with-, 
out scriptural warrant, as a celestial being whom 
God may commission to watch over and to com- 
fort her. God's angels are spirits ; may not her 
absent one, introduced, perhaps, into their fel- 
lowship, and sharing their employments, be very 
near to her? 

The service of angels is a truth often and 
clearly revealed in the Bible. It is indeed a 
principle in the divine government in this life, 



MINISTERING SPIRITS. 57 

that the strong shall minister to the weak. Pa- 
rents are to provide for their children ; the rich 
to care for the poor; the learned to instruct the 
ignorant; the pure to raise the fallen. In fine, 
one great lesson which revelation teaches us 
is, do good to all, minister according to the 
ability God has given you. 

But God takes the child from these earthly 
ministries. So far as from revelation he has 
given us any glimpses of the unseen world, and 
any innate ideas of the condition of the infant- 
dead, it is not improbable that the unformed 
mind when separated from the body is, in the 
benevolence of God's plans, transplanted for its 
development and training to a better school and 
better influences than it were possible to have 
In this world of sin. And so, in faith, the Chris- 
tian parent says, " I shall go to him." We have 
a conviction indeed that the infant of a day, or 
the little child, is not lost ; that death does not 
end all with him. Sure we are that the spirit — 
God's breath — is not buried in the churchyard. 
The little grave which love has planted with 
flowers, and which affection waters with tears, 

Our Little Ones. 8 



53 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

contains only the casket ; the jewel is in a 
brighter, better land. 

Hence we venture the suggestion, that the 
young child, in its spiritual nature, may be de- 
veloping its powers under the Divine tutelage, 
and waiting with the saved the redemption of 
the glorified resurrection body at the coming of 
its Lord and Saviour. For the consummation 
of the believer s hope is reserved until that 
hour, although, with the Psalmist, even now, he 
can anticipate its blessedness, and say, "I shall 
be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness." 

And so, the child in paradise may wait. It 
may even make great progress in its spiritual 
growth. Unincumbered by its corporeity, it 
may learn more of God and of heaven in one of 
our years, than in a lifetime on earth. The con- 
sideration that infants have no actual transgres- 
sions for which to answer, and that the death of 
Christ has opened the kingdom of heaven to 
them, as to believers, is, we think, a valid reason 
for the early development of the spiritual nature, 
and for growth in wisdom and knowledge unat- 
tainable here. And so, while we cherish the 



MINISTERING SPIRITS. 59 

blessed hope of recognition in the world of spir- 
its, we can conceive that God, through angelic 
ministries, may be educating the little child in 
paradise for a higher service than he could have 
filled on earth, though he had lived his fourscore 
years ; and that myriads of mourning parents 
may have cause to praise him, through eternity, 
for his love in removing to the better land, ere 
sin had marred its life, the beautiful child which 
might have proved a hindrance in their way to 
heaven. s. c. 



A MINISTERING ANGEL. 

Mother, has the dove that nestled 
Lovingly upon thy breast, 

Folded up his little pinion, 
And in darkness gone to rest ? 

Nay, the grave is dark and dreary, 
But the loved one is not there ; 

Hear'st thou not its gentle whisper 
Floating on the ambient air? 

It is near thee, gentle mother, 
Near thee at the evening hour; 

Its soft kiss is in the zephyr, 
It looks up from every flower. 



Go OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

And when, night's dark shadows fleeing, 
Low thou bendest thee in prayer, 

And thy heart feels nearest heaven, 
Then thy angel babe is there ! 

Emily Judson. 



REDEEMED AND GLORIFIED CHILDREN. 

Sure, to the mansions of the blest 

When infant innocence ascends, 
Some angel, brighter than the rest, 

The spotless spirit's flight attends. 
Cn wings of ecstasy they rise 

Beyond where worlds material roil, 
Till some fair sister of the skies 

Receives the unpolluted soul. 

Fond mourner, be that solace thine ! 

Let Hope her healing charm impart, 
And soothe, with melodies divine, 

The anguish of a mother's heart. 
Oh, think, the darlings of thy love, 

Divested of this earthly clod, 
Amid unnumbered saints above 

Bask in the bosom of their God. 

Of their short pilgrimage on earth 

Still tender images remain ; 
Still, still they bless thee for their birth, 

Still filial gratitude retain. 



MINISTERING SPIRITS, 61 

Each anxious care, each rending sigh, 
That wrung for them the parent's breast, 

Dwells on remembrance in the sky, 
Amid the raptures of the blest. 

Hark ! in such strains as saints employ, 

They whisper to thy bosom peace ; 
Calm the perturbed heart to joy, 

And bid the streaming sorrow cease. 
Then dry, henceforth, the bitter tear: 

Their part and thine inverted see, 
Thou wast their guardian angel here, 

They guardian angels now to thee ! 



THE SINGING OF CHILDREN. 

Who shall sing, if not the children ? 

Did not Jesus die for them ? 
May they not, with other jewels, 

Sparkle in his diadem? 
Why to them were voices given — 

Bird-like voices, sweet and clear ? 
Why, unless the song of heaven 

They begin to practise here ? 

There 's a choir of infant songsters 

White-robed, round the Saviour's throne; 

Angels to their music listen, 
Oh, J t is sweeter than their own ! 



62 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

Faith can hear the rapturous choral, 
When her ear is upward turned ; 

Is not this the same, perfected, 

Which upon the earth they learned? 

Jesus, when on earth sojourning, 

Loved them with a wondrous love ; 
And will he to heaven returning, 

Faithless to his blessing prove ? 
Oh, they cannot sing too early; 

Fathers stand not in their way ! 
Birds sing while the day is breaking — 

Tell me, then, why should net they? 



THE ANGELS' CALL. 

" What sounds so sweet await me ? 
What fills me with delight ! 

mother, look ! who sings thus 
So sweetly through the night ?" 

" I hear not, child, I see not ; 

Oh, sleep thou softly on ; 
Comes now to serenade thee 

Thou poor sick darling, none!" 

" It is not earthly music 
That fills me with delight ; 

1 hear the angels call me, 



MINISTERING SPIRITS. 63 

CELESTIAL HARMONIES. 

And when glad faith doth catch 
Some echo of celestial harmonies, 
Archangels' praises, with the high response 
Of cherubim, and seraphim, oh think — 
Think that your babe is there. 



COMMUNING IN HEAVEN. 

Oft in my mansion would some elder saint 

(For dignity was there humility) 

Linger and tell his story, or ask mine : 

Or I would listen from an infant's lips 

A tale of such delightsomeness as poured 

New meaning into words henceforth. And oft 

A group of the beatified enlinked 

In all the bonds of holy lineage, 

Would cluster underneath the trees of life, 

One eye kindling another, one deep thought 

Waking another thought, and this another, 

Until all bosoms overflowed with love, 

And all perforce would hasten to the throne, 

And at their Father's footstool pour their hearts 

In one full tide of rapture forth. 

E. H. Bickersteth. 



64 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 



RECOGNITION IN HE A VEN. 



A recognition in the future life, of those we 
have known and loved in this world, is the pre- 
vailing sentiment of believers in the Christian 
revelation. " Life and immortalitv are brought 
to light in the gospel." 

" The kindred tie that bound us here, 
Though rent apart with many a tear, 
Shall be renewed in heaven.'' 

The following selections, from the writings of 
distinguished theologians, will give their views, 
and serve to illustrate the probabilities of the 
doctrine of a heavenly recognition and reunion 
of parent and child. 

Doddridge wrote : " Let me be thankful for 
the pleasing hope that, though God loves my 
child too well to permit it to return to me, he 
will ere long bring me to it. And then that en- 
deared paternal affection, which would have been 
a cord to tie me to earth and have added new 



RE CO GNITION IN HE A VEX. 65 

pangs to my removal from it, will be as a golden 
chain to draw me upwards, and add one further 
charm and joy to paradise itself." 

Edwards said : " The father shall know that 
such a one was his child ; the husband shall re- 
member that such a one was his wife ; . . . and 
so all other relations of persons shall be renewed 
and known in heaven." 

The Rev. William Jay wrote to his daughter 
on the death of an interesting little girl under 
five years of age, who had been a patient suf- 
ferer : " This is an event of congratulation rather 
than of condolence. At the grave of infants we 
always feel a peculiar satisfaction, arising from 
the persuasion that they are disposed of infinitely 
to their advantage. Under the protracted ill- 
ness of this little martyr, the Saviour said to the 
parents, 'Suffer this little child to come unto 
me, and forbid her not, for of such is the king- 
dom of heaven/ The Shepherd has gathered 
this lamb with his arms, and now carries it in 
his bosom." 

To a parishioner and friend, on the death of 
two of his children, Mr. Jay also wrote : " Inter- 
out Little Ones. 9 



66 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

vening objects are often removed that God may 
be seen, and even death commands silence that 
He may be heard. And the blessed sufferer, the 
sanctified sufferer, is the hitmble suppliant, who 
wipes his eyes and says, ' Speak, Lord, for thy 
servant heareth.' i Lord, what wilt thou have 
me to do ?' . . . If my prayers for you are an- 
swered, . , . you will be enabled to say, ' Well, 
my darlings are not lost, but provided for. . . . 
I shall find them again in yonder happy world. 
I shall embrace them all perfect and immortal/ " 

" Our journey is a thorny maze, 
But we march upward still, 
Forget the troubles of the ways, 
And rest at Zion's hill." 

Dr. Emmons wrote : " All pious brothers and 
sisters, all pious parents and children, all pious 
husbands and wives, and all pious friends, . . . 
will be for ever known to each other and inti- 
mately connected in heaven, and mutually pro- 
mote each other s felicity." 

Matthew Henry in his Commentary says : 
" This may comfort us when our children are 
removed from us by deat-h : they are better pro- 



RE CO GNITION IN HE A VEiV. 67 

vided for, both in work and wealth, than they 
could be in this world. We shall be with them 
shortly, to part no more." 

Rutherford, September 7, 1647, writes to 
Lady Gaitgirth : "Let the Lord pluck his own 
fruit at any season he pleaseth. Your children 
are not lost to you ; they are laid up so well, as 
that they are coffered in heaven, where our 
Lord's best jewels lie." 

Similar encouraging thoughts relating to the 
heavenly reunion and recognition of parents and 
children might be multiplied. These, however, 
may suffice to reconcile some sorrowing mother, 
perhaps some murmuring father, to God's right- 
eous ways ; to get a glimpse of his loving- 
kindness in what is, for the present, a most 
grievous trial; to realize, as never before, the 
nearness to the world of spirits ; and to draw 
the affections heavenward. In the light of rev- 
elation, what more consolatory and hopeful than 
the death of a little child ! God loaned the 
treasure for a little while. As he has seen fit to 
send for it, let it be cheerfully, or at least sub- 
missively returned. For he will keep it and 



68 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

train it, as no earthly parent can, for the highest 
good of the child, and for the ultimate blessed- 
ness of the Christian parent in the heavenly re- 
union of parent and child, 

" Where worlds no more can sever 
Parent and child for ever." s. c. 



WAITING FOR YOU. 

One little lamb in the upper fold, 
From the heat of summer, and winters cold, 
Safe from earth's guile 

And its dreams untrue, 
One little lamb 
Is waiting for you. 

One little darling, whose pattering feet, 
With the prophets of old, tread the golden street, 
Or wander for ever 

'Mid Eden's bowers, 
Is waiting for you 
Through the golden hours. 

One little spirit, that only came 
Earthward to murmur her mother's name, 
Luring her heart 

To the land above, 
In the broken accents 
Of baby love. 



RECOGNITION IN HE A VEN. 69 

One little lamb, from all sorrow free 
Through the long years of eternity — 
From the heat of summer 

And winter's cold — 
Is waiting for you 

In the upper fold. T. P. M. 



TRUST AND HOPE. 

Ye who mourn 
Whene'er yon vacant cradle, or the robes 
That decked the lost one's form, call back a tide 
Of alienated joy, can ye not trust 
Your treasure to His arms, whose changeless care 
Passeth a mother's love ? Can ye not hope, 
When a few hastening years their course have run, 
To go to him, though he no more on earth 
Returns to you ? 



THE MEETING. 

Oh, when a mother meets on high 

The babe she lost in infancy, 
Hath she not then, for pains and fears, 

The day of woe, the watchful night, 
For all her sorrows, all her tears, 

An over-payment of delight ? r. southey. 



70 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

THE DYING BOY. 

It must be sweet in childhood to give back 

The spirit to its Maker, ere the heart 

Has grown familiar with the paths of sin, 

And sown — to garner up its bitter fruits! 

I knew a boy w r hose infant feet had trod 

Upon the blossoms of some seven springs ; 

And wken the eighth came round, and called him out 

To revel in its light, he turned away, 

And sought his chamber, to lie down and die. 

■5?? $F 7& ?£ '5K' 7K Tffc 

This was his last request : 
" Now. mother, sing the tune 
You sung last night ; I 'm weary, and must sleep. 
Who was it called my name ? Nay, do not weep ; 
You '11 all come soon." j. h. Bright. 



WITHIN THE FOLD. 

There was once a Shepherd — and He ever 
liveth — whose tender, loving care was over his 
flock by day and by night. One of his flock 
would not follow him ; so he took her little 
lamb in his arms, and then the mother turned 
and sought him. 



CHILDREN IN THE RESURRECTION 



CHILDREN IN THE RESURREC- 
TION. 



The Christian doctrine of a resurrection of 
the body comes to our comfort in the death of 
little children. It might be asked, Shall we see 
the same tiny form and the features of infancy 
and childhood ? or will they be raised perfect in 
stature as in spirit ? We naturally desire to see 
them again just as they were; and yet we asso- 
ciate with a form like theirs the idea of weak- 
ness and imperfection. This, however, may be 
a prejudice of earth. The little form may be 
retained, and yet be a vessel large enough to 
contain the fulness of God's blessing, for even 
here his gifts and grace are not measured by 

size and stature We may carry our little 

ones in our memories, and imagine how they 
will look when we again behold them — not to 
find, as when we have long been separated on 
earth, that they have changed out of all recol- 



72 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

lection, but that they are still the same, though 
beautiful and perfected in cherubic glory. The 
child shall appear, we may hope, as when cra- 
dled in our arms : only those eyes which then 
looked up and gladdened us shall shine with a 
heavenly lustre, that voice which then was mu- 
sic to us shall have more of the tone of the 
world of sacred song ; but we shall know at the 
first glance that this is the little form w r hich 
once sported about our homes, which has often, 
after separation, visited us in our dreams, and 
now in living reality is to be clasped in our 
arms, no more to be rent from us. We will 
await that meeting, thankful for the comforting 
recollections of the past and the cheering antici- 
pations of the future, which alleviate our pres- 
ent bereavement, and with full hearts blessing 
God that so much mercy is mingled with the 
trial. 

That moment of reunion will repay all our 
sorrows. "Should any parent," says Dr. Chal- 
mers, "fee! softened by the touching remem- 
brance of a light that twinkled a few short 
months under his roof, and at the end of its lit- 



CHILDREN IN THE RESURRECTION 73 

tie period expired, we cannot think that we ven- 
ture too far when we say that he has only to 
persevere in the faith and in the following of 
the gospel, and that very light will again shine 
upon him in heaven. The blossom which with- 
ered here upon its stalk has been transplanted 
there to a place of endurance ; and it will there 
gladden that eye which now weeps out the ago- 
ny of an affection that has been sorely wounded ; 
and in the name of Him, who if on earth would 
have wept along with them, do we bid all believ- 
ers to sorrow not even as others who have no 
hope, but to take comfort in the thought of that 
country where there is no sorrow and no sepa- 
ration." 



THE WORM AND THE CHRYSALIS. 

" Mother, how still the baby lies ! 
I cannot hear his breath ; 
I cannot see his laughing eyes — 
They tell me this is death. 

" They say that he again will rise, 
More beautiful than now; 
That God will bless him in the skies. 
O mother, tell me how !" 

1 Ones. 10 



74 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

" Daughter, do you remember, dear, 
The cold, dark thing you brought, 
And laid upon the casement here, 
A withered worm, you thought ? 

" I told you that Almighty power 
Could break that withered shell, 
And show you, in a future hour, 
Something would please you well. 

" Look at the chrysalis, my love ; 
An empty shell it lies ; 
Now raise your wondering glance above 
To where yon insect flies !" 

" Oh yes, mamma ! how very gay 
Its wings of starry gold ! 
And see ! it lightly flies away 
Beyond my gentle hold. 

" O mother, now I know full well, 
If God that worm can change, 
And draw it from its broken cell, 

On golden wings to range, 

" How beautiful will brother be 

When God shall give him wings, 
Above this dying world to flee, 
And live with heavenly things !" 

Mrs. Gilman. 



CHILDREN IN THE RESURRECTION. 75 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Jerusalem the golden ! there all our birds that flew, 
Our flowers that half unfolded, our pearls that turned to 

dew, 
And all the glad life music, now heard no longer here, 
Shall come again to greet us as we are drawing near. 



RESURRECTION. 

And see ! 
J T is come, the glorious morn ! the second birth 
Of heaven and earth ! Awakening nature hears 
The new-creating word, and starts to life, 
In every heightened form, from pain and death 

For ever free. Thomson's Seasons. 



REUNION. 



I have heard you say 
That we shall see and know our friends in heaven ; 
If that be true, I shall see my boy again ; 
For since the birth of Cain, the first male child, 
To him that did but yesterday suspire, 
There was not such a gracious creature born. 

Shakespeare, King John. 



76 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 



CHILDREN WITH JESUS. 



We cannot pretend to determine in what 
manner the spirits of little children will be 
employed in the mansions of glory. But surely 
those purest and loveliest, where all are pure 
and lovely, will not be without their appropriate 
employment. They may be, perhaps, the chor- 
isters of heaven. How inexpressibly sweet 
these melodious voices of the innumerable mul- 
titude of redeemed children, as they celebrate 
the praises of him who has w r ashed them from 
their sins in his own blood, "till not a spot re- 
mains." Oh how sublime, how magnificently 
glorious that burst of praise, as it swells through 
the aisles of heavens great sanctuary. Heart- 
stricken parent, who art mourning with such 
bitterness of soul over the death of thy beloved 
child, and almost refusing to be comforted 
because he is not, what if God removed thy 



CHILDREN WITH JESUS. 77 

child, to supply the room of one promoted to a 
higher place in the children's choir ? Dost thou 
grudge him to God for such a purpose ? 
Wouldst thou be so selfish as to detain him 
from such glory, that he might please thee for 
a while on earth ? No, surely, if a wish could 
bring him back, thou wouldst not breathe it. 
It is a happiness and a glory far beyond what it 
has entered the heart of man to conceive ; and 
this will reconcile thee to the thought of separa- 
tion, assured as thou art, that thy loss is his un- 
speakable gain. Rev. W. B. Clark, ■_, 
■ ♦ 

THE CHERUB BAND. 
God looked among his cherub band, 

And one was wanting there, 
. To swell along the holy land 

The hymns of praise and prayer. 

One little soul which long had been 

Halfway 'tween earth and sky, 
Untempted in a world of sin, 

He watched with loving eye. 

It was too promising a flower 

To bloom upon the earth, 
And God did give it angel power, 

And bright celestial birth. 



78 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

The world was all too bleak and cold 

To yield it quiet rest ; 
God brought it to his shepherd's fold, 

And laid it on his breast. 

There, mother, in thy Saviour's arms, 

For ever undefiled, 
Amid the little cherub band, 

Is thy beloved child. 



CHILDREN IN CLORY. 

Around the throne of God in heaven 

Thousands of children stand, 
Children, whose sins are all forgiven, 
A holy, happy band, 
Singing, Glory, glory, glory be to God on high ! 

In flowing robes of spotless white 

See every one arrayed, 
Dwelling in everlasting light 

And joys that never fade, 
Singing, Glory, glory, glory be to God on high ! 

What brought them to that world above, 

That heaven so bright and fair, 
Where all is peace, and joy, and love? 
How came those children there, 
Singing, Glory, glory, glory be to God on high ? 



CHILDREN WITH JESUS. 79 

Because the Saviour shed his blood 

To wash away their sin, 
Bathed in that pure and precious blood, 

Behold them white and clean, 
Singing, Glory, glory, glory be to God on high ! 

On earth they sought the Saviour's grace, 

On earth they loved his name ; 
So now they see his blessed face, 
And stand before the Lamb, 
Singing, Glory, glory, glory be to God en high ! 



So OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 



THE SHEPHERD AND THE 
LAMBS. 



When the good Shepherd would draw his 
wandering sheep away from danger and gather 
them safely into his fold, he has no more effect- 
ive mode than to take the little lambs up in his 
arms. Then the sheep will follow him. So he 
wins our worthless hearts. He takes our lambs 
away. He allures to brighter worlds by remov- 
ing our brightest objects of affection here. 
Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be 
also. He cuts the ties which bind us down, that 
our affections may be free to aspire upward to 
things above. How near the gate of heaven 
seems when we know that our children have 
just passed through it ! And how precious the 
Saviour seems when we feel that our lambs are 
in his bosom ! The ties which bound our hearts 
to earth will henceforth bind them to heaven. 
Who would not follow the good Shepherd to 



THE SHEPHERD AND THE LAMBS. Si 

that house of many mansions, where he has 
been gathering these children of our love? 
Where is the Christian parent who has the pre- 
cious and the unspeakable honor of a child as- 
cended to God, who has not thereby been made 
to drink in more of the beauty and power of the 
gospel ? And when the image of that sainted 
one has been obliterated here by lapse of time 
from all other hearts, how will it still linger, like 
the fragrance of crushed flowers, around his 
own ! And though years may pass, and dis- 
tance intervene, he will still love to breathe 
forth the tenderest sympathies of the soul in 
memory of the infant's dying couch and lowly 

tomb. Dr . L . j. Halsey. 

THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 
When on my ear your loss was knelled, 

And tender sympathy upburst, 
A little rill from memory swelled, 

Which once had soothed my bitter thirst; 

And I was fain to bear to you 

Some portion of its mild relief, 
That it might be as healing dew, 

To steal some fever from your grief. 

Our Little Ones. H 



82 OUR LITTLE ONES IN TARADISE. 

After our child's untroubled breath 

Up to the Father took its way, 
And on our home the shade of death 

Like a long twilight haunting lay, 

And friends came round, with us to weep 

Her little spirit's swift remove, 
This story of the Alpine sheep 

Was told to us by one we love : 

" They in the valley's sheltering care 
Soon crop the meadow's tender prime, 

And when the sod grows brown and bare, 
The shepherd strives to make them climb 

" To airy shelves of pastures green 
That hang along the mountain's side, 

Where grass and flowers together lean, 

And down through mists the sunbeams slide. 

"But naught can tempt the timid things 
The steep and rugged path to try, 

Though sweet the shepherd calls and sings, 
And seared below the pastures lie, 

"Till in his arms the lambs he takes, 

Along the dizzy verge to go ; 
Then, heedless of the rifts and breaks, 

They follow on o'er rock and snow. 



THE SHEPHERD AND THE LAMBS. 

"And in those pastures lifted fair, 
More dewy soft than lowland mead, 

The shepherd drops his tender care, 
And sheep and lambs together feed." 

This parable, by nature breathed, 
Blew on me as the south wind free 

O'er frozen brooks, .that float, unsheathed 
From icy thraldom, to the sea. 

A blissful vision through the night 
Would all my happy senses sway, 

Of the Good Shepherd on the height, 
Or climbing up the stony way, 

Holding our little lamb asleep ; 

And like the burden of the sea 
Sounded that voice along the deep, 

Saying, "Arise and follow me." 

Maria W. LoweBL 



84 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 



THE BETTER LAND. 



He who is infinite in love as well as wisdom 
has revealed to us the fact of a future life, and 
the fearfully important relation in which the 
present stands to it. The actual nature and 
conditions of that life he has hidden from us ; 
no chart of the ocean of eternity is given us, no 
celestial guide-book or geography defines, local- 
izes, and prepares us for the wonders of the 
spiritual world. Hence imagination has a wide 
field for its speculations, which, so long as they 
do not positively contradict the revelation of the 
Scriptures, cannot be disproved. 

The brief hints afforded us by the sacred 
writings concerning the better land are inspiring 
and beautiful. Heaven is described as a quiet 
habitation, a rest remaining for the people of 
God. Tears shall be wiped away from all eyes ; 
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor 



THE BETTER LAND. 85 

crying, neither shall there be any more pain. 
To how many death-beds have these words 
spoken peace ! How many failing hearts have 
gathered strength from them to pass through 
the dark yalley of shadows ! 

Yet we should not forget that " the kingdom 
of heaven is within ;" that it is the state and 
affections of the soul, the answer of a good con- 
science, the sense of harmony with God, a con- 
dition of time as well as of eternity. What is 
really momentous and all-important with us is 
the present, by which the future is shaped and 
colored. A mere change of locality cannot alter 
the actual and intrinsic qualities of the soul. 
Guilt and remorse would make the golden streets 
of paradise intolerable as the burning marl of 
the infernal abodes ; while purity and innocence 
would transform hell itself into heaven. 

John G. Whittier. 

* 

"ONLY." 

Only a little snow-white flower, 

Clasped in a baby's hand, 
As she lay on a marble slab at rest 

With her soul in another land: 



86 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

Only a little fragile flower : 
But we have treasured it hour by hour, 
And eagerly wait the moment when 
We shall see our little one again. 

Only a curl cut from her head, 

As she lay in her coffin at rest, 
With one dimpled hand beneath her cheek, 

The other on her breast. 
Only a little lock of hair, 
Cut from a baby's head so fair ; 
But oft at even I sit and weep, 
Longing with my babe to sleep.] 

Only a grave beneath a tree, 

A tiny baby's grave, 
But it bids me trust my treasure dear 

To a Saviour ready to save. 
Till after life's turmoil I shall see 
My beautiful babe beyond the sea, 
Where on another, brighter shore 
I shall find my little babe once more. k. Garnet 



LOOK UPWARD. 

" Look upward, and your child you '11 see 
Fixed in his blest abode ; 
Who would not therefore childless be, 
To give a child to God ?" 



LETTER FROM BISHOP LEIGHTON. 87 



LETTER FROM BISHOP LEIGH- 
TON. 



My Bereaved Brother: I am glad of your 
health, and the recovery of your little ones ; 
but, indeed, it was a sharp stroke of a pen that 
told me your pretty Johnny was dead ; and I 
felt it truly more than, to my remembrance, I 
did the death of any child in my lifetime. Sweet 
thing ! and is he so quickly laid to sleep ? Hap- 
py he ! Though we shall have no more the 
pleasure of his lisping and laughing, he shall 
have no more the pain of crying, nor of being 
sick, nor of dying; and hath wholly escaped the 
trouble of schooling, and other sufferings of boys, 
and the riper and deeper griefs of riper years — 
this poor life being all along nothing but a linked 
chain of many sorrows and many deaths. Tell 
my dear sister she is now much more akin to 
the other world ; and this will quickly be passed 
to us all. Johnny is but gone an hour or two 



88 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

sooner to bed, as children used to do, and we 
are undressing to follow. And the more we put 
off the love of this present world and all things 
superfluous, beforehand, we shall have the less 
to do when we lie down. It shall refresh me to 
hear from vou at your leisure. 

Your affectionate brother, 

R. LEIGHTON. 

Ediitboro', January 16, 1677. 



THE ETERNAL CAIN. 

Oh think, that while you 're weeping here, 

His hand a golden harp is stringing : 
And with a voice serene and clear, 
His ransomed soul, without a tear, 
His Saviour's praise is singing. 

And think that all his pains are fled, 
His toils and sorrows closed for ever ; 

While He whose blood for man was shed 

Has placed upon his infant head 
A crown that fadeth never ! 

And think that in that awful day, 

When darkness sun and moon is shading, 
The form that midst its kindred clay 
Your trembling hands prepared to lay 
Shall rise to »ife unfading ! 



LETTER FROM BISHOP LEIGH TON. 

Then weep no more for him who 's gone 
Where sin and suffering ne'er shall enter; 

But on that great High Priest alone, 

Who can for guilt like ours atone, 
Your whole affections centre. Dr. Hale. 



THF HAPPY EXCHANGE. 

Weep not for those 
Who sink within the arms of death 
Ere yet the chilling wintry breath 

Of sorrow o'er them blows ; 
But weep for them who here remain, 
The mournful 'heritors of pain, 
Condemned to see each bright joy fade, 
And mark grief's melancholy shade 

Flung o'er hope's fairest rose. 

Mrs. Embury. 



Our Littie0ne3. 12 



90 OUBr LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 



AMONG THE GRA VES. 



Thanks to our Heavenly Father, the valley 
of the shadow of death is no longer " a land of 
darkness, and where the light is as darkness." 
The presence of a serene and holy life pervades 
it. Above its pale tombs and crowded burial- 
places, above the wail of despairing humanity, 
the voice of him who awakened life and beauty 
beneath the grave-clothes of the tomb at Beth- 
any is heard proclaiming, " / am the Resurrec- 
tion and the Life /" We know not, it is true, 
the conditions of our future life ; we know not 
what it is to pass from this state of being to 
another ; but before us in that dark passage has 
gone the Man of Nazareth, and the light of his 
footsteps lingers in the path. Where he, our 
Brother in his humanity, our Redeemer in his 
divine nature, has gone, let us not fear to follow. 
He who ordereth all aright will uphold with his 



AMONG THE GRAVES. 91 

own great arm the frail spirit when its incarna- 
tion is ended; and it may be that, 

" When time's veil shall fall asunder, 
The soul may know 
No fearful change nor sudden wonder, 
Nor sink the weight of mystery under, 
But with the upward rise and with the vastness grow. 

" And all we shrink from now may seem 
No new revealing ; 
Familiar as our childhood's stream, 
Or pleasant memory of a dream, 
The loved and cherished past upon the new life stealing. 

" Serene and mild the untried light 
May have its dawning ; 
As meet in summer's northern night, 
The evening gray and dawning white, 
The sunset hues of time blend with the soul's new morn- 
ing." John G. Whittier. 
. « . 

THE CHEERFUL GIVER. 

" What shall I render Thee ! Father supreme, 
For thy rich gifts, and this the best of all ?" 
Said a young mother, as she fondly watched 
Her sleeping babe. There was an answering voice 
That night in dreams. " Thou hast a little bud 
Wrapt in thy breast, and fed with dews of love ; 
Give me that bud ; 'twill be a flower in heaven." 



93 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

But there was silence, yea, a hush so deep, 

Breathless and terror-stricken, that the lip 

Blanched in its trance. " Thou hast a little harp ; 

How sweetly it would swell the angels' songs ! 

Give me that harp." There burst a shuddering sob, 

As if the bosom by some hidden sword 

Was cleft in twain. Morn came, a blight had found 

The crimson velvet of the unfolding bud ; 

The harp-string rang a thrilling strain, and broke, 

And that young mother lay upon the earth 

In childless agony. Again the voice 

That stirred the vision : " He who asked of thee 

Loveth a cheerful giver." So she raised 

Her gushing eye, and ere the tear-drop dried 

Upon its fringes, smiled. Doubt not that smile, 

Like Abraham's faith, was counted righteousness. 

Mrs. Sigoumey. 
* 

THE HEAVENLY GARDEN. 
Perhaps God does with his heavenly garden 
as we do with our own. He may chiefly stock 
it from nurseries, and select for transplanting 
what is yet in its young and tender age, flowers 
before they have bloomed, and trees ere they 

begin to bear. Rev. Dr. Guthrie. 



TRIUMPHS OF THE CROSS. 93 



TRIUMPHS OF THE CROSS. 



The most precious belief of the church cf 
God is the salvation of the infant dead. Per- 
haps the greatest of all the triumphs of the 
cross of Christ will be found at last to be this, 
that it has saved half our race in a body, by 
calling them away from the world in infancy, 

Perhaps the greatest joy that is now felt in 
heaven, in view of all things done on earth, is 
caused by this one event, which creates the 
deepest, widest wave of sorrow here, the infant's 
death. For if there is joy in the presence of 
the angels of God over one sinner that repent- 
eth, can we doubt that there is joy there at the 
happy release of each little sufferer, as they 
pass from death's iron gates, one by one, into 
the heavens, to be for ever blessed on the bosom 
of their God ? " Precious in the sight of the 
Lord is the death of his saints." How beautiful 
and glorious must be the infant's death ! 

Dr. L. J. Halsey. 



94 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

GOD'S LOVE. 
Every human tie may perish ; 

Friend to friend unfaithful prove ; 

Mothers cease their own to cherish ; 

Heaven and earth at last remove ; 

But no changes 
Can avert the Father's love. 

In the furnace God may prove thee, 
Thence to bring thee forth more bright; 

But can never cease to love thee, 
Thou art precious in his sight ; 

God is with thee, 
God, thine everlasting light. 



THE RESURRECTION MORN. 
When we see a precious blossom 

That we tended with such care, 
Rudely taken from our bosom, 

How our aching hearts despair ! 
'Round its little grave we linger, 

Till the setting sun is low, 
Feeling all our hopes have perished 

With the flower we cherished so. 

We shall sleep, but not for ever, 
There will be a glorious dawn ; 

We shall meet, to part no never, 
On the resurrection morn. 



CHRIST'S SINLESS SCHOOL. 95 



CHRIST'S SINLESS SCHOOL. 



A thousand times over have I pitied more 
the mother of a living sorrow, than the mother 
of a departed joy. Parents, spare your tears 
for those whom you have laid down to sleep in 
their narrow beds of earth, with the now with- 
ered rosebud mingling with their dust. They 
are safe. Christ is their teacher now, and has 
them in his sinless school, where lessons of 
celestial wisdom are learned by eyes that never 
weep. Save your tears for your living children 
if they are yet living in their sins, unrepentant 
and unconverted. Dr. Theo. L. Cuyler. 



A FLOWER REMOVED. 

Yes, thou art fled, and saints a welcome sing : 
Thine infant spirit soars on angel wing. 
Our dark affection might have hoped thy stay, 
The voice of God has called the child away. 



96 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

Like Samuel early in the temple found — 
Sweet rose of Sharon, plant of holy ground, 
Oh, more than Samuel blessed, to thee is given, 
The God he served on earth to serve in heaven. 

Cunningham. 



DEATH. 
Death did not first strike Adam, the first 
sinful man, nor Cain, the first hypocrite, but 
Abel, the innocent and righteous. The first 
soul that met with death, overcame death; the 
first soul that parted from earth went to heaven. 
Death argues not displeasure, because he whom 
God loves best dies first, and the murderer is 
punished with living. Bishop Hall. 



THE SAVIOUR'S LOVE FOR CHILDREN. 97 



THE SAVIOURS LOVE FOR 
CHILDREN. 



I am deeply impressed with the Saviour's 
love for little children. What is more precious 
and what more loved in the household than the 
babe, the precious life towards which all lives 
are looking and all hearts are beating ; the cen- 
tre of all interest and endeavor in the house- 
hold ? In my early manhood, I am ashamed to 
say, I used to have a dislike to children, and I 
thought that if ever I should be thus encum- 
bered, I should prefer boys, who, I thought, 
were worth five times as much as girls. And 
behold, the first two births in my family were 
girls ! Ah, but they were precious gifts ! They 
have grown up to be Christian women, blessings 
to their father and invalid mother. 

Well, the Lord gave us a boy, and what a 
blessing he was to my heart ! When I used to 

Our Little Ones. 13 



98 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

come home from church, wearied with my labors, 
he, although only four years old, would come to 
the lounge on which I lay, and run his fingers 
through my hair, and say in his baby voice, "Are 
you tired, papa ?" God took him to himself, and 
as he lay on the bed of death, his mother, lifting 
up her hand, said through her tears, "I thank 
thee, O God, that thou hast taken my boy, and 
given me a child in heaven." In neither moth- 
er's or father's heart was there the least rebel- 
lion, and we felt indeed that Christ was in our 
house. Thank God for the little children ! 
Sometimes, when called to minister to bereaved 
parents, I have thought, what would heaven be 
without children ? There is a beautiful picture 
by Murillo, the Spanish painter, of the Virgin 
Mary, with a circle of children, like a wreath of 
roses round her head. I wish he had represent- 
ed Christ instead, surrounded by the children he 
had called to himself. 

I do not know the author of the verses 
which I add. They represent the scene in which 
little children were brought to the Saviour by 
" The dark-eyed mothers of Judah." 



THE SAVIOUR'S LOVE FOR CHILDREN. 99 

" They brought Him their babes, and besought Him, 
Half kneeling, with suppliant air, 
To bless the brown cherubs they brought Him, 
With holy hands laid in their hair. 

" Then reaching His hands, He said lowly, 
' Of such is my kingdom ;' and then 
Took the brown little babes in the holy 
White hands of the Saviour of men ; 

"Held them close to his heart, and caressed them, 
Put His face down to theirs as in prayer, 
Put their hands to His neck, and so blessed them, 
With baby hands hid in His hair." 

Rev. C. H. A. Bulkley. 



THE ANCEL AND THE INFANT. 
Smiling, a bright-eyed seraph bent 

Over an infant's dream; 
To view his mirrored form he leant, 
As in the crystal stream. 

"Fair infant, come," he whispered low, 
"And leave the earth with me ; 

To a bright and happy land we 'il go — 
This is no home for thee. 

" Each sparkling pleasure knows alloy, 
No cloudless skies are here; 

A care there is for every joy, 
For every smile a tear. 



100 OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

"The heart that dances free and light, 
May soon be chained by sorrow; 

The sun that sets in calm to-night, 
May rise in storm to-morrow. 

" Alas ! to cloud a brow so fair, 
That griefs and pains should rise ! 

Alas ! that this dark world of care 
Should dim these laughing eyes ! 

" To seek a brighter land with me, 

Infant, thou wilt not fear ; 
For piteous Heaven the sad decree 

Recalls that sent thee here." 

It seemed on him the sweet babe smiled, 
The seraph spread his wings. 

They're gone, the angel and the child, 
To meet the King of kings. 

From the German. 



SAFE IN JESUS ARMS. 10 

" SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN 
TO COME UNTO ME? - 



Oh forbid them not by one repining thought, 
one vain regret, one unbelieving fear. Weep, 
for Jesus wept ; but sorrow not without hope. 
They sleep in Jesus ; they shall be raised from 
dust incorruptible, made like to Christ's most 
glorious body, and enter the fulness of redemp- 
tion. Weep, for nature must have relief; but 
weep in faith on the bosom of Him who from 
the cross comforted his only parent ; yet a little 
while and he will take you up where you shall 
weep no more. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Dr. Bethune. 



" ' Oh !' said the gardener, as he passed down 
the garden-walk, 'who plucked that flower? who 
gathered that plant ?' His fellow-servant an- 
swered, ' The Master !' and the gardener held 
his peace." 



OUR LITTLE ONES IN PARADISE. 

RESIGNATION. 
I have had my days of blessing, 
All the joys of life possessing; 

Unnumbered they appear ! 
Then let faith and patience cheer me, 
Now that trials gather near me : 

Where is life without a tear? 

Yes, O Lord, a sinner looking 
O'er the sins thou art rebuking, 

Must own thy judgments light. 
Surely I, so oft offending, 
Must, in humble patience bending, 

Feel thy chastisements are right. 

Let me, o'er transgression weeping, 
Find the grace my soul is seeking, 

Receiving at thy throne 
Strength to meet each tribulation, 
Looking for the great salvation, 

Trusting in my Lord alone ! 

While, 'mid earthly tears and sighing, 
Still to praise thee feebly trying, 

Still clinging, Lord, to thee ; 
Quietly on thy love relying, 
I am thine — and, living, dying, 

Surely all is well with me. c. F. Gellert. 



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